Crabcakes

On the outside looking in. I dunno if I'm right but: Isn't Utah guaranteed a BCS bid as the highest ranked Non BCS conference champion ranked in the top 12 of the BCS? (Say that 5 times fast) And for that same reason Boise State is on the outside looking in, because only the highest ranked non BCS team is guaranteed a bid.

I don't know that area too well. I fish south of there at Seaside Heights and Island Beach. I was hoping maybe you did as well on the off chance I could give a little more specific advice.

I have both of those baits but I haven't really fished with the Berkley eel. I don't have a ton of experience with these two so I'll give what help I can. From what I remember the Berkley is pretty light at about 1-1.5 ozs and has very poor aerodynamics. It looks very realistic. I personally would usually opt for another lure on an open sand beach. You'd need a good rod to get the best out of it from the beach if you did use it. It'd use it around rocks preferably with some current. As for technique you can swim it, jig it, drag it on the bottom, let it swing in and out of current, let an outgoing wave carry it past the end of the jetty. This one is pretty light and should move with most current. I usually use fin-s-fish and other soft plastics like that in Chesapeake Bay. In the surf I'd rig it on a heavy jig head and fish it in locations similar to the Berkley eel but where more weight is needed to get it down in the current. Try it on a very deep beach or a beach with a strong rip. If sandeels were around I'd tie on a small size sluggo or other such lure as a teaser. Rigged weedless is something I have little experience with in the surf. It certainly wouldn't get a lot of distance from the beach. I know guys use ron-z's and surf hogs and similar things to great success though. I don't have a ton of experience with these two so I don't have any secret retrieves for you or anything. Honestly I'd fish them with the things you'd expect to work, hopping it, swimming slowly with an occasional jerk, etc. Just be mindful of current in making your retrieve. A bait like these two I'd usually fish around some sort of cover or noticeable current area. These aren't really baits to cover water. What part of Jersey are you fishing in?

Haha yeah that came across like I was giving Nog the fight. Mir has a chance of course. Though it would really surpise me if he did win. I was more saying it because I'd like to see Nog win because I think Nog vs. Lesnar would be a better fight. Hey Joe how was it different in person? Was Wanderlei Silva as nice as I'd like to think he is?

Well if Lesnar was gonna win it, that way didn't really surprise me. At distance Randy was never that good of a striker. It was kind of assumed Lesnar had bad striking just because we haven't seen it. Not that it's great or anything but he has three knockdowns in three ufc fights. The striking seemed fairly even before the TKO. Lesnar did a good job. He was so big Randy couldn't take any weight off of him to throw a strike from the clinch. Lesnar stayed patient and waited for his chance to get off the fence. I'm rooting for Nog to beat Lesnar in the championship. I think that will be a very long tough fight. I'm dissapointed as I think Randy vs Nog would have been a better fight. What did you guys think?

Matt's got the right idea. For me surf fishing is far and away the most gratifying way to catch a striper. That's a nice UPS colored popper. I also have fun fishing for them in Chesapeake bay with light tackle in the summer.

That just hasn't been the case in the Potomac. They've been around for awhile now. They seem to have found a niche. That's not to say that the same outcome will happen elsewhere, or even that it won't develop into a bigger problem in Maryland. However, based on what I've experienced I highly doubt that snakeheads will universally destroy all fishing as we know it throughout the country.

The ethics of fish keeping aside I have a suggestion for the thread starter. For a compromise on getting some wild/native fish try for some legal sized bluegill or other sunfish. They behave very similarly to cichlids and are free. Usually keeper size is 5-6 inches meaning they are not too big for a reasonably sized aquarium. I've also found 4" channel catfish at my local fish store. Mine eats out of my hand. Both species are really easy to feed. (They inhale lunchmeat, bugs, flake, pellet and anything else remotely organic.) They don't seem too picky about tank or water quality. Two 5-6" bluegill and the little catfish wouldn't overtax a 35+ gallon if you took care of the tank and made sure it was well filtered. I've kept a similar combination to this for several months now and both tank and fish are doing great. Just keep in mind the little catfish and bluegill (especially catfish) will grow so be ready to eventually upgrade tanks (or better yet start with a bigger one) if you take this route. This might be a good way for you to keep some pretty interesting native fish without dealing with all the issues people were discussing. Hope this was in some way helpful.

They definitely are amazing. Though they look plant like those are corals and are actually animals. More specifically, colonies of lots of smaller, genetically identical animals called polyps. Check out this link if you want to see some wild ones, there's only a few pictures but they're pretty cool. http://www.imagequestmarine.com/photos/coral/index.htm The flush mount in the wall is really nice as well.

I haven't noticed these on any bluefish I've caught this year. Thats creepy though. I think parasites are probably my least favorite things on earth. Leeches, chiggers, ticks and now apparently their giant ocean-going armor plated cousins.

Northern Virginia is certainly not culturally "the south", but I'd say Southern Maryland is. However on the whole you'd probably include Virginia as a southern state and count Maryland as a northern one. I've been to West Virginia but not Alabama so I can't say if they're different. At a certain point it really just becomes a matter of perception. In geographic terms it might be possible to divide but culturally it isn't that clear cut.

The previous posts are correct. Thats an oyster toadfish. (Not that you necessarily needed any more confirmation)

That looks alot healthier than I expected. I'm surprised you got it back in the water before someone asked you if they could eat it.

That's another great picture as usual. Thats a shame about someone keeping the sturgeon in the Potomac. I take care of 2 at work that came from the Hudson. They're probably about 50-60" each Moody fish, they spaz out if they see/ hear you and bash their heads into the side. Then I had to go in one day to fix a pipe they broke and they kept rubbing up against me inquisitively. They're also very very picky eaters and can go a loooong time without eating (we had some that didn't eat for almost 6 months so we had to re-release them into the wild).

Hain's Point. I just go with a friend of mine for catfish sometimes. I'm sure there are lots of other places tucked away in the city to fish. Usually I'm out on the bay or local reservoris though.

There are a surprising number of eels in the Potomac. I've seen and caught them in the middle of D.C. several times. I'd like to know a little more about them too.

I'll throw my votes in The aforementioned: KISS Eagles as well as: Guns and Roses Journey Foreigner Aerosmith And I don't know if blaming these choices on the age of the posters works in all cases. If you notice the same bands come up pretty often. Look at the bands Muddy mentioned. They're older than the bands most people name and not a single person has posted talking about how overrated Chuck Berry Jimi Hendrix etc etc are. I think that some bands just don't hold up as well.

I use a weighted snag hook. I use them surf casting for bunker, but they should work for you. It gives very good casting distance (which may or may not be necessary in your situation), but more importantly you get the full force of the rod sweep right at the hook point. Its very simple, doesn't tangle, and seems to have good sticking power. Against carp that are sort of thick skinned it might give you better pentration. I let it drop to the level i expect fish to be then set the hook very hard in a horizontal sweep. I then let it sink for just a second then repeat. Here's a picture: http://www.wholesalecentral.com/maulsa0001/store.cfm?event=itemdetail&itemid=811552&returnto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewholesalecentral%2Ecom%2Fmaulsa0001%2Fstore%2Ecfm%3Fevent%3Dshowcatalog%26catid%3D86591 They tend to come in big sizes (7/0-13/0) but thats good if you're targeting largish carp. I don't know if thats a good site to buy from but if you get no luck with weighted treble try searching "bunker snag hook".

I generally like this plan. It's at least an explicit statement of a strategy, which is more than most politicians give you. I might disagree with the fact that this is no more difficult than landing on the moon however. I actually think implmeneting this plan would be much much harder. Certain parts of it would anger everyone from coal miners to hippies in San Francisco. That being said, "it's too hard" is an excuse thats all too often given to avoid action. I would disagree over a few specfific strategies but overall I like how your post appreciates traditionally "environmentalist" views together with other strategies as a means to accomplish a long run economic solution. Also, you left out ethanol which is always a plus to me. I don't know where T. Boone Pickens gets his numbers but wind really is a good power source that takes advantage of one of our most underappreciated energy resources: alot of America is really flat and has a coastline.

I'd go a size or two smaller. Not really sure what style of hook you're using so i can't say exactly how big it is but I use size 2 or 1/0 baitholders with flickers.

I'm usually fishing for them up North in deeper water so my techniques may be different. In Chesapeake Bay i find flounder drifting over ledges fishing cut spot strips/squid using the rigs everyone else pointed out. Don't be too quick to set the hook when fishing bait. They can eat baits slowly at times at are often light biters. In my experience if you are fishing just squid or strip bait make sure your bait is fairly long and narrow as it better resembles a bait fish when it flows through the water.

It has "Morphologically designed Water Displacement action for Lateral Line Stimulation." Wait did i read this right?!!?... If my translation is correct this lure actually wobbles when retrieved. This revolution will change fishing forever. As an added bonus not only does it have ambient diffusion reflectors rather than mundane holographic foil, but one of the arrows actually indicates the lure is "self aware".

. It was a very good fight. I think rampage's leg hurt him alot more than he let on. After that he never really had the same power in his punches and movement. He limped out of the cage pretty bad. I really can't figure out how the judges scored that fight. I saw it as a 47-47 draw. Really don't agree with 49-46 49-46 48-46. I sure didn't see a fight where griffin won 4 rounds. Not saying Forrest didn't deserve to win, he executed his strategy very well and didn't get caught up swinging with rampage. I'm surprised no one else said something about this. At the bar I was at the general opinion was Rampage won 48-47 or it was a 47-47 draw. As for Silva he can probably run through alot of the lower end 205ers but up at the top I think he'll have trouble with many of the bigger fighters. I don't think he'll be in quite as good a shape at 205. He's not going to putting on alot of muscle considering he's still going to fight at 185. He probably just won't cut and he'll look about the same with a little more water and fat. He's going to be giving up like 15-20lbs to some of these guys on fight night and he won't have the same advantages his long body length gives him against bigger fighters

I missed it but my buddies said it wasn't too great. From what I hear they had the fights on a short leash and stopped some early? Elite XC has a few good fighters but as a league it really can't hold up to some of the other organizations. I do like how they co-promote with other groups though. UFC 84 was really good though. Lots of good new talent.